A Lion in the House (2006)

Five families struggle with the ups and downs of cancer treatment over the course of six years.

Directors:

Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert

Stars:

Justin Ashcraft, Adam Ashcraft, Dale Ashcraft

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Justin Ashcraft	...	Himself
Adam Ashcraft	...	Himself
Dale Ashcraft	...	Himself
Debbie Ashcraft	...	Herself
Jennifer Roller	...	Herself
Robert Arceci	...	Himself (as Dr. Robert Arceci)
Victor Balaso	...	Himself (as Dr. Victor Balaso)
Cyndi DeLaat	...	Herself (as Dr. Cyndi DeLaat)
Malini Gillen	...	Herself (as Dr. Malini Gillen)
Fred Huang	...	Himself (as Dr. Fred Huang)
Paul Jublinsky	...	Himself (as Dr. Paul Jublinsky)
Connie Coons	...	Herself
Alex Lougheed	...	Herself
Jackie Lougheed	...	Herself
Judy Lougheed	...	Herself

Storyline

Five families struggle with the ups and downs of cancer treatment over the course of six years.

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Plot Keywords:

cancer | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

ITVS PBS [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

De unga kämparna på canceravdelningen

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

225 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Cancer Mom Perspective

I stumbled upon this film on a Roku channel and knew nothing about it before I watched it. I have a 4 year old son who just finished his cancer treatments. This was his second bout with cancer.

My first thoughts were that it was amateurish. I watch a ton of documentaries and it seemed at first that this one was without direction. The audio was so quiet in parts it was a bit hard I follow.

I had such high hopes for this. As cancer parents, we are furious over the fact that our childhood cancer receives almost no funding. And while the survivorship of childhood cancer is going up it is at a huge cost. There must be constant vigilance because of recurrence, secondary cancers, and late term effects (infertility, cardiovascular issues, cognitive delays, etc.) and that is a huge part that until your kid is diagnosed you're unaware of and it's unacceptable. Almost none of that was even mentioned. I would like to have seen more about the real toll it takes on families. It can devastate financially between massive bills and loss of income. Marriages fall apart. Many parents and children get PTSD. I do realize there are some limitations on what even the best documentary can do, but I certainly would have done it differently.

I was very pleased that they didn't blow through what happens when a child dies of cancer. Cancer is not pretty smiling bald faces. It is ugly and cruel. It is not my intention to judge, but I was shocked to see the mom leave her dying son in the hospital alone for days at a time. In my experience that would not even be allowed. And I have little doubt she was in denial, intentional or not, about how dire his condition was. But I can't wrap my head around not visiting your son in the hospital or at least making sure someone is there. My heart broke for him being so scared.